June 28, 2008
City officials, bar owners meet on LGBT safety
Michael Wood READ TIME: 3 MIN.
Mayor Menino's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing invited the owners and employees of many of the city's LGBT bars and clubs to a June 25 meeting at the Benjamin Franklin Institute to discuss an alleged rise in hate crimes and violent incidents targeting their patrons.
"Recently, we have received information indicating a potential increase in instances of assaults, hate crimes, and other illegal activities targeting patrons of licensed establishments who are members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered community. Boston Police, as well as licensing authorities and other city officials, will be working in cooperation with licensees to address this issue," wrote Patricia Malone, director of Consumer Affairs and Licensing, in her letter to bar and club owners.
Yet it is unclear whether there has been a documented rise in incidents at LGBT bars and clubs and whether that will be a focus of the meeting, which took place after Bay Windows went to press. Jennifer Mehigan, a spokeswoman for Menino, did not return calls to comment for this story.
Boston Police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said that the department's Community Disorders Unit (CDU), which investigates hate crimes, has recorded a steady climb over the last few years in the number of cases involving alleged anti-LGBT bias crimes. In 2004 the CDU investigated 28 cases, and that number rose to 40 in 2005, 42 in 2006, and 56 in 2007. Driscoll said she was unsure how many of those incidents took place in the vicinity of LGBT bars or clubs. She said while the increase in investigations may indicate an increase in incidents, she said it may also be a product of more people coming forward to report bias crimes.
"The fact that numbers are increasing can also be attributed to the fact that there are more individuals coming forward," said Driscoll.
Fenway Community Health's Violence Recovery Program (VRP) is one of the organizations coordinating the June 25 meeting, along with Consumer Affairs and Licensing and Boston Police, and VRP director Kelcie Cooke said she does not expect the meeting to focus on discussing an upsurge in hate crimes.
"From our point of view that's not what prompted this. This is something that's been in the works for a while," said Cooke.
She said Fenway sees the meeting as a component of its new public awareness campaign in partnership with Boston Police, which launched this month (see "Fenway pairs with BPD on LGBT safety," June 12). The most visible element of that initiative is a new poster campaign giving people tips on protecting themselves when meeting people at bars and online, but Cooke said the goal of the June 25 meeting is to familiarize the owners and staff of the city's bars and clubs with the CDU and the VRP. The meeting will encourage bar owners to report hate crimes to the CDU, and Cooke said the city licensing office will reassure bar owners that reporting a hate crime will not affect their license.
"They want businesses to feel safe to report these things and to know that their business will not be in jeopardy if something happens on their property and that the licensing board is there to support them," said Cooke.
The VRP collects data on hate incidents in Massachusetts that are reported to the program, and Cooke said their data does not suggest a spike in incidents in Boston's bars and clubs. She said one purpose of the meeting will be to speak with bar and club owners and find out what if any incidents they have witnessed in their own establishments.
"We really wanted to make people aware of their supports and bring people in to give us ideas of what they're seeing, for instance the bar owners, the managers of the clubs, so we can be proactive as opposed to just healing people after they've been wounded," said Cooke.
Michael Wood is a contributor and Editorial Assistant for EDGE Publications.
